Sunday 3 February 2019

Professional Ethics for Lawyers

"Lawyers as guardians of justice play a pivotal role in upholding the rights of individuals and ensuring a free and democratic society." 
"Fulfillment of the role requires acceptance by lawyers of their duties and obligations within our legal system. And unequivocal obligation of a lawyer is to maintain the highest standards of ethical conduct."
 "If we lawyers through our own weakness and lack of serious concern, permit a decline in the professional standard which will cause a blight upon the administration of that justice and eventually lead to the rejection by the people for whose benefit it has been established." 
Ms Kamalini De Silva  

Wednesday 23 January 2019

வரலாற்று முக்கியத்துவம் மிக்க சட்டத்தீர்ப்பு – பாகிஸ்தான் உச்ச நீதிமன்றம்

பாகிஸ்தான் உச்ச நீதிமன்றம் சிறுவர் கண்காணிப்பு, தரிசித்தல், சிறுவர் பராமரித்தல் மற்றும் சிறுவர் சிறுமியர் மீது தாய் தந்தை இருவருக்குமான கடமைகள் தொடர்பில் பின்வரும் விரிவான திட்டத்தைப் வெளியிட்டு உள்ளது. 
1. வயதுக்கு வராத சிறுவர் சிறுமியர் தாயின் பொறுப்பில் இருப்பர் 
2. ஒன்று விட்ட வார இறுதி நாட்களில் சிறார்கள் தந்தையுடன் தங்கலாம். தந்தை சிறார்களை தாயின் வீட்டிலிருந்து வெள்ளிக்கிழமை இரவு எட்டு மணிக்கு அழைத்துச் சென்று நாயிற்றுக்கிழமை மாலை ஒரு மணிக்கு தாய் வீட்டில் கொண்டுபோய் விடவேண்டும். 


Monday 21 January 2019

Land Mark Judgement on Custody, Visitation and Maintenance of Minor: Supreme Court of Pakistan

Supreme Court of Pakistan issued the following comprehensive plan with regard to custody, visitation rights and maintenance of minors, and obligations of both parents:

(i) Both the minors shall remain with the mother.
(ii) On every alternate weekend minors may reside with the father, who shall pickup the minors from the house of the mother on Friday at about 8:00 p.m. late evening and shall drop the minors at the house of the mother on Sunday by 01:00 p.m. in the afternoon.

Wednesday 16 January 2019

Be cautious when Choosing Between Trial and Appellate Counsel in Sri Lanka

Below artice give you the idea of what kind of Counsel you seek for to appear for your case and if you are seeking for a career, What would you rather do for a career; try cases or argue appeals.
"Being a trial lawyer you have to “create a record from scratch”. You also won’t have to endure assaults and insults from opposing counsel.  If you do trial work, you and opposing counsel may spend endless days locked together in small conference rooms taking and defending depositions."
"Appellate work, in contrast, is mercifully discovery-free.  You’ll have to study a trial record to prepare an appeal, but you can do that alone in a room.  You won’t have to wade through millions of pages of documents, draft meaningless responses to endless document requests, or play all the other silly games that pretrial work requires."
"The fact that appeals are small and thinly staffed implies another truth: Unless you’re a truly exceptional appellate lawyer, you won’t be an important rainmaker at your Biglaw firm if you follow your heart to an appellate career. ..Appeals typically require only one partner and an associate or two to handle,..  "
 Mark Herrmann 
"Well, If you ask me, I would say that, in Sri Lanka if you approach an Appellate Counsel to appear for your Trail Court case, unless he knows how to creat record from scrach and how opposing counsel may defend the case as per book and beyond including possible dirty works, your Appellate Counsel may distroy your aspiration of Justice even before you reach the trial bench. 
On the other hand, as a Junior Trial Counsel if you are fully depend on a Senir Appellate Counsel, "who is a mere desk researcher" most probably you may let other party to win the case :) "
The Blogger
Read The Full Article below 

Sunday 13 January 2019

Payment of 'Mathah' Illegal; Learned Counsel Adverted, Appeal Court Accepted


  1. Quasi made order calling upon the petitioner to pay Rs. 200,000/- as 'Mathah
  2. Four Honourable members of the Board of quazis out of 5, delivered judgment in favour of granting 'Mathah'. 
  3. The legal position as adverted to this court by the learned counsel for the Petitioner (Farook Thahir with N. M. Riyaz) inter alia is as follows:

(a) 'Mathah' or compensation is not recognized or incorporated in the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act.
(b) 1st Respondent had no authority or jurisdiction to entertain or hear an application on payment of 'Mathah'
(c) Award of Rs. 200,000/- made by the 1st Respondent is liable to be quashed by way of Writ of Certiorari, and such award is illegal. 
"What is not specifically incorporated cannot be given or granted by implication or interpretation in the manner argued on behalf of the respondents to this application. If the legislature intended to introduce the concept of 'Mathah' it could have done so very easily over the years . But none of the above statutes thought it fit to include same."
  Anil Gooneratne J.


Read below the Full Judgement

Thursday 3 January 2019

When Litigants trapped between Counsels and Instructing Attorneys!

  • Instructing Attorney-at-Law for the petitioner had not tendered notices to the Registry of the Supreme Court along with his application, but had served the motion, which was filed in the Registry directly to the respondent.
  • Rules 28(3) and 27(3) quite clearly give specific instructions as to the method in tendering notices to parties. The language used in both Rules clearly shows that the said provisions are mandatory and the notice has to be served through the Registry of the Supreme Court. In such circumstances, it is apparent that the motion, which was sent by the learned Instructing Attorney-at-Law for the petitioners to the respondent is not sufficient to satisfy the provisions laid down in Rule 28(3) and therefore this has to be taken as non-compliance with Rule 28(3) of the Supreme Court Rules, 1990.
  • When there has been non-compliance with a mandatory Rule such as Rule 28(3), there is no doubt that this would lead to serious erosion of well established Court procedures maintained by our Courts, throughout several decades and therefore the failure to comply with Rule 28(3) of the Supreme Court Rules would necessarily be fatal.
Dr. Shirani A. Bandaranayake, J.

Read the full judgement below...

Tuesday 1 January 2019

Common problems clients have with their lawyers

It can be discouraging and frustrating when you feel that your attorney is not doing his or her best job on your case. This article lays out some of the most common problems that clients have with their legal professionals and suggests some ways of handling legal malpractice claims.
"No matter what name the agency in your state goes by, they will have a process that you can use to file a complaint against your attorney for lying or performing at an incompetent level. Examples of these types of behavior include:
  1. Misusing your money
  1. Failing to show up at a court hearing
  1. Lying to you or a judge
  1. Participating in a criminal endeavor"